Plane Makes Emergency Stop After Woman Gives Birth Mid-Flight

Going into labor on an airplane is not how any expecting mother wants to experience the miracle of childbirth, but one woman dealt with the experience earlier this week on a flight from Miami, Florida, to Doha, Qatar.

According to the Agence France-Presse, a Qatar Airways flight took off from South Florida Sunday morning en route to Doha when one of the passengers went into labor. She gave birth before the plane could make its emergency landing at Gander International Airport in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.

In a report from Karen Wells of The Beacon, there were two doctors on the flight who sprang into action and helped with the birth. The child was born around 30 minutes before the Boeing 777 touched down in Eastern Canada.

The mother and child were transported to James Paton Memorial Regional Health Centre after the flight landed, and Gander International Airport safety manager, Brian Hicks, told the AFP that both were doing fine after the incident.

The Qatar Airways flight was grounded in Newfoundland for around two hours before the remaining passengers finished their flight to Doha.

The identity and nationality of the woman was not revealed, but Hicks told the AFP the nationality of the child has been a topic of discussion since it was born in Canadian airspace.

According to Hicks, this is the first flight in his 27 years at Gander International Airport that had to be diverted to the facility for an emergency landing due to childbirth.

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